The Poetry of the Mystics

A wise goal for each of us.

The Lord Be Praised

“The lips of the one I love are my perpetual pleasures:
The Lord be praised, for my heart’s desire is attained.

O Fate, cherish my darling close to your breast:
Present now the golden wine-cup, now the rubies of those lips.

They talk scandal about us, and say we are drunks–
The silly old men, the elders lost in their error.

But we have done penance on the pious man’s behalf,
And ask God’s pardon for what the religious do.

O my dear, how can I speak of being apart from you?
The eyes know a hundred tears, and the soul has a hundred sighs.

I’d not have even an infidel suffer the torment your beauty has caused
To the cypress which envies your body, and the moon that’s outshone by your face.

Desire for you lips has stolen from Hafiz’ thought
His evening lectionary, and reciting the Book at dawn.
——Hafiz, translated from Persian by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs

Spiritual energy

The Mirage

One day in the desert a bedouin
Looked up and saw a mirage shimmering
Ahead. Not water, but the splendor of
A dazzling girl.

In the thirsty, burning desert
among dry thorns, under a shadowless sun
He tried to reach her but instead
Of that marvelous love he found death.

In his immaterial, immortal sleep
He still saw the splendor of that girl
Shimmering ahead, an eternal mirage.
And in his endless dream he began to walk looking for her.”
—-Avedik Issahakian, translated from the Armenian by Diana Der Hovanessian

The journey is peace and we must meet every act of violence with peace and loving forgiveness

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The beauty of poetry is that the words and images are never out of style. They can be thousands of years old and still have meaning and messages for the present time.

Honoring the Blessing of Children

 

I may have mentioned my nine grandchildren before. From now on I will call them the grands. I have 3 elder grands, the twins, the baby grands and the monkey. He is the only one who lives in town and so I get to see him more often. I had him yesterday. A day filled with laughter and tag and a ball stuck in a tree and Star Wars. A day for us both to cherish.  My oldest grand is graduating Thursday, so I will be going for the festivities. I am so proud of him. His campus has been in lockdown several times in the last two years. No one has been hurt but the closeness of danger and evil is frightening. This is a part of my feelings about guns and the people who shoot others with them.

 

Children are so precious and people always say that they are strong and will get over anything that happens in childhood. In reality, we allow them to be scarred emotionally and mentally far too often. Some with therapy will work through it and lead a productive life. Some grow up with trust issues, or become rapists or serial killers. Some are batterers and pedophiles. We need to do a better job of protecting the children and encouraging them to fly and be all they can be and come back to the roost whenever they really need to.

 

Years ago, I found this poem and got it on little tee shirts for the grands that I had at that time. So, in honor of every child on our globe trying to grow up in a world we have filled with anger, hatred, danger, and stress; I give these words to them and to those people who are raising them or their parents.

 

A goal to ending violence, hatred and war

 

 

All Mother’s on this Planet Have a Day Even if They Aren’t Aware of it.

One Woman, One World, One Family, unending love.

Mother’s Day is huge here in America .This is nice. Flowers, candy, going out to dinner, a new plant for the garden. These make up an American Mother’s Day. I would like to remind you that Mothers are in every country and being  a Mother is quite different than it is here.

Mothers in other countries don’t have a day or even an hour where they feel especially loved and appreciated. Mother’s in other countries face tragedies we never even can imagine. Many mothers continue to die in childbirth, many mothers don’t have milk to feed their babies. Many mothers can’t dress their babies up really cute because there are only rags to dress them in. I guarantee you that some mothers, on the American holiday, will be watching their babies die of starvation and diseases such as Malaria.

Most of the mothers around the world will be required to leave a girl baby by the side of the road because of misogyny and some are trying to heal the faces of daughters whose boyfriend threw acid in their face because they turned down a marriage proposal. The boy throws acid in her face so no one else will want her. This is classic power and control. Some mothers will be assisting a medicine woman to hold down her daughter so genital mutilation can occur just like what was done to her. In some countries, if a girl has not had this done, no one will marry her.

Why is all of this happening?  It is because women and girls are second class citizens and have no rights and no power to protect them legally in the system. They are owned, used, punished, tormented and often killed.
My request is that from now through Sunday you would all pray for the mothers around the world. Pray for them to be protected, pray for healing and food, pray for an end to human traffakking. Please pray that some day millions of women around the world will understand that mother is a term of  love, support and pride. Pray that a year will come when all women will be able to hold their heads up and walk with pride and dignity.

National Organization of Women

Hug someone today and everyday

Mothers unite to help each other and the children. Make Mother’s Day really mean something to a mother somewhere in the world..

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No one wants to be hit, slapped, kicked, punched, pinched

We were born with love.
Give it away. Don’t hoard it. If someone hurts you, get help.

Here in the Light

let your hope rise to the heavens.

We are facing a dark time in the world. It is not the first time and it won’t be the last time either. Each of us must decide how we are going to face the darkness and work through the pain and hopelessness.

Since the dawn of time there have been those who will take what they want without a care to the effect on other people. Greed and jealously twist the human heart and life becomes less valuable.

We can choose that path or we can choose to walk in the light. We can choose the light. we can work to keep hope alive. We can reach out to others, families and survivors.

I must keep my heart strong and loving. I must look up. My prayer is that if I do, I will do all I can to stand tall there, as tall as 5 foot 2 inches can stand. I will use every ounce of courage to light my candle.

I will forgive and I will love all of the children of the universe while tears slide down my face. Yes, tears because my heart is broken andI know it will be again. So I suggest we all work towards compassion, kindness, loving each other as sisters and brothers. Because we are all children of the universe. Life is bigger than each individual act. We need the big picture.

We need to remember that we are all equally part of the family of man.
And women. We can only survive if we work together to stop the darkness.

gathering of the flowers

Let us all work together to bring beauty into the darkness and never give up or lose hope.

The Trial by Existence

” Even the bravest that are slain

Shall not dissemble their surprise

On waking to find valor reign,

Even as on earth, in paradise;

And where they sought without the sword

Wide fields of asphodel fore’er.

To find that the uttmost  reward

Of daring should be still to dare.

The light of heaven falls whole and white

and is not shattered into dyes,

The light for ever is morning light;

The hills are verdured pasture-wise;

The angel hosts with freshness go,

And seek with laughter what to brave;–

And binding all is the hushed snow

Of the far-distant breaking wave.

And from a cliff-top is proclaimed

The gathering of the souls for birth,

The trial of existence named,

The obscuration upon earth.

And the slant spirits trooping by

In streams and cross-and counter-streams

Can but give ear to that sweet cry For its suggestion of what dreams!”

—-Robert Frost

” He [Robert Frost] has bequeathed his nation a body of imperishable verse from which Americans will forever gain joy and understanding.”  —-John F. Kennedy

I believe there is an abundance of love and hope in this world. Bring it with you on your journey.

Celtic woman

I Heard a Slight Rustle Within the Silence

It is the middle of the night and I awoke thinking about the horror and devastation of today. My heart is breaking over the continued violence. Then as I was sitting, I heard a small sound in the quiet of the night, the black black night. I knew it to be the sound of angel wings moving as the angels moved to provide love, comfort and strength to all those involved.

My heart felt uplifted and I knew that here is hope, love, compassion and kindness in this world. Each of us are a symbol of them.

We are thinking of you.
Prayers continue to rise up to the heavens. Blessings to all.

The Dalai Lama and his wise and love filled words.

Ghazal of Hazrat Inayat Khan

“Thanks be to God, the very world that birthed us
now is bathed by wondrous Nature
in a rapture of her glorious light:
the splendor of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, now revealed.
And humankind, highest of creatures, endowed with Intellect’s might
so that all the beasts, wing’d and hoof’d
are place under his command
And Adam’s veins are filled
with Art, Science, Faith:
he knows the sciences are clear
-but music is the weightiest
as a surging ocean
outweights the very world through which it flows.

If he whose heart’s been moved
by the science of Music’s world effect
Were offered the pleasure of emperorship,
he’s certainly ignoring it
-for Man is not alone in his delight
at that sweet sound
since even animals have sacrificed themselves for it.

More stubborn than a donkey,
he who holds that Music’s “impure”;
Ignorant of beaty,
how clain acquaintance with the Lord?

Creator!

The ocean surges!
Permit my skiff to reach the shore
-King!
I beg what kindness thou canst afford.”

—-Hazrat Inayat Khan, founder of Chisti Sufi Order

what a wonderful gift

Have you heard the music of the spheres?

Open air amplitheatre at Chautuaqua Institute, NY. Photo copyrighted in 2001 by Barbara Mattio

Heartbreak again in America

We must find a way to coexist.

Lone Star College has suffered its second mass attack. The first, as you might remember was a mass shooting. A terrible event for students and parents to live through. Sadly, mass murders and mass attacks are becoming part of the tapestry of American life. WHY?!  How could so much anger and hatred be breeding within our shores?

Today, this campus was invaded again by pain, terror and tragedy. A male suspect dressed in black, had stabbed 15 people, four of whom have been life-flighted to the hospital. It appears that an X-acto knife or a box cutter, or another knife, may have been the weapon used. One young woman interviewed stated that a woman had been cut around her mouth.

Lone Star Campus

An item like this was the possible weapon

My heart is screaming. More children, more injuries, tears for students and teachers and parents. Fear, on this campus and others, has reached a crippling state.  This is horrifying. I have a grandson, not in Texas, who is in college, and this sort of violence terrifies me on his behalf.  And still, we do not learn.

Hatred is not holy, or religious, or beneficial. We must turn away from anger and hatred. We have to learn to live with acceptance and love and courtesy.
This country will die — we will continue to kill each other — if we do not teach our children to love, to be kind, to give, to accept and not to judge. We need to protect our children and change our society to a loving and accepting society.

Hearts need to be more important than guns or knives.

Until we learn to accept one another, to teach love instead of intolerance, to stamp out prejudice in favor of caring, this sort of tragedy will continue to occur.  We must do more than cry and wail and beat our chests.  We must ACT, in love and in compassion and ensure that the next generation does not continue the violence.

One World Filled With One People

I am thinking today about the women who have been my friends and support in life. I am grateful for all that they have added to my life. As I think back it was they that helped me accomplish all that I have  done.  There is an connection between women forged by survived violence against women, injustice, oppression and we are an important part of American Life. We have stood up to discrimination and put-downs and we have gotten back up each time we were knocked down. In truth, we started a revolution that affects men and women everywhere.

I loved this video because as we move around the world living our lives, we meet so many men and women from other cultures and relighons. We all live here on this one planet. We don’t look alike, we don’t all think alike or love alike, but we are all children of the Universe. Love for the One and each other is what binds us together. Caring about all the women and men in the world who are suffering under oppression, who have not medicine for something as simple as TB or Malaria, who have to watch their children starve to death.

The language of the people of this planet is love, music, dance and creativity. This language is what gives us the courage to fight for the best in ourselves and each other.